


The Secrets of Chernobyl

by IAmCactusKay



Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 09:51:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19104724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmCactusKay/pseuds/IAmCactusKay
Summary: Rachel Morvel is freelance journalist and a blogger. Her expertise belongs to abandoned cities, the places people forget and the stories that need to be told. There's news of tourists disappearing from their trips to visit the Chernobyl disaster ground zero. And she wants answers. But has she bitten off more than she can chew?





	The Secrets of Chernobyl

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fictional story. There are mentions of actual facts in the story but on the whole, it is a fictional story that is meant purely for entertainment.

April 26, 1986. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. A day that will not be forgotten. Not for anyone across the globe but especially not for the residents of Pripyat, Ukraine; the city that housed majority of the workers from the power plant. Only 36 hours after the explosion that launched radiation into the air were the people of Pripyat ordered to evacuate the city. Deadly radiation levels made the area one of the most dangerous places on Earth. Unfortunately, even after evacuating, that didn’t mean the radiation didn’t cause deaths. The total number of deaths caused by the disaster is often disputed but what we do know for sure is that 134 servicemen were hospitalized with acute radiation syndrome, of whom 28 firemen and employees died within months. Along with that there approximately 14 deaths due to radiation induced cancer among that group of 134 survivors in the following 10 years after the disaster. Among the civilian population there were more than 15 childhood thyroid cancer deaths. There is still research going on to determine how the rest of the survivors fair since the disaster. If the citizens had been evacuated sooner, the number of deaths might've been lower. There is an area of alienation—an area that extends 19 miles in all directions from the plant. There are an estimated 300 residents who live there who refused to leave. But how has all this radiation affected them? There are employees who are part of a clean up but the government only lets them work for 5 hours a day and they have to rest for 15 days before they can return. Recently, the workers there have all fled. Something keeps them from continuing the clean up. They have terror in their eyes when they return from the disaster site and they refuse to talk about what they saw, too traumatized. So what has forced them to fled? And what of the 300 residents in Pripyat who refused to leave?

Rachel Morvel is a freelance journalist/blogger. She writes specifically about places that have been affected by disasters of all kinds, like Centralia, Pennsylvania: the city on fire. She visits these places, whether she gets permission or not, and records her findings both in video and on her blog to let the people know exactly what’s going on. Recently, her interest in Chernobyl has grown. The stories of the workers who are so traumatized that the refuse to speak. The stories of tourists who visit and never return. The lack of evidence as to what’s going on. All of it draws her attention to the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. 

Luckily, the city of Chernobyl, though part of the Exclusion Zone, is at the very edge. The employees that had yet to flee stay there and it’s still a relatively working city. And there’s a hotel. Perfect. She checks her Passport and books her plane ticket and hotel room. Along with a tour. Rachel has no idea what to expect when she gets there. She’s heard word of the vegetation just being chock full of radiation and that some animals have shown signs of mutation. That was something scary to think about—if animals could be mutated like that, then what could happen to humans if it didn’t kill them? She chose not to think about it too much as she packed for the trip: clothes, Passport, Geiger counter, Dosimeter, she checked her bank account to make sure she could exchange currency so that she could buy a few things when she arrived at the city of Chernobyl.

And that day arrived quickly. She ignored the stares she got from everyone in the airport who learned of her destination. It was almost as if they were worried about her safety. It wasn’t unusual for tourists to go but with the growing number of tourists who never return surfacing in the news, fewer and fewer people have decided to visit. So few, in fact, that she was the only person on her nonstop flight to the Kiev-Borispol Airport. She got into her seat and pulled her camera out, pressing the record button as it faced her.

“So far, I’m the only one on this flight. It seems that the scare factor of previous stories has kept people from making this trip. There was a time where the number of tourists heading to Chernobyl to check it out but as most of you know, with the stories that have been coming out, there are a lot of people who don’t want to take that risk.” She sighed and ran a hand through her chestnut brown hair. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared but I’m determined to find out what in the hell is going on. I’ve got my dosimeter and my Geiger counter to make sure that I can avoid heavily radiated areas and to keep track of my radiation exposure and to make sure any food or water I’m about to consume isn’t contaminated that badly. I plan on buying some food and water at the store in Chernobyl so I don’t have to worry too much about eating contaminated food.” She looked up as she heard someone coming down the aisle and she cleared her throat. “It seems that we’re going to be taking off soon, so I’ll see you guys in a bit. I’ll try to get some shots as we’re flying in.” She then had a thought. Instead of cutting the camera off, she just put it down so it seemed like she wasn’t recording.

The fact that she was the only person on the plane made her even more nervous. She stopped the flight attendant before she could walk past. “Miss? May I ask about how many people have flown to Chernobyl since all these stories have surfaced?”

“Honestly? You’re the first person to take this flight in months. Hell, I almost got someone else to cover this one for me.” The woman stated, shifting where she stood. It was obvious that she was nervous and she wasn’t even the one going into the Exclusion Zone.

“Really? But you’re not even going into the Exclusion Zone? The airport is an hour away from the first checkpoint.” Rachel pushed a bit, wanting to get a little bit more out of her. She wanted to know why people were so scared to go anywhere near the place.

“I don’t want to take the chances.” She said in a very shaky tone. “I don’t know what’s going on in that city but it’s nothing good, I can tell you that.” She then leaned down even closer to Rachel. “I want to warn you. They’re not exactly friendly with journalists over there—not the government officials who run the checkpoints. They tend to confiscate cameras. I mean, I don’t know if it’s true but before these stories came out, that’s what some of the people who came back told me. And…” She paused and sighed. “I’m not sure I should tell you this.”

Well, now Rachel needed to know. “No, tell me. I want to know everything that I can before I get there.” She pressed, her attention solely focused on the flight attendant.

“There was a guy who came through about six months ago—a journalist. His ticket originally said roundtrip but he never showed back up.” She looked up towards the Captain’s cabin to make sure she wasn’t needed. She also seemed to be nervous about just talking about it. “His name was Victor Swanson.” She took a deep breath and stood up. “Just be careful when you’re there, miss. Something is going on behind the fences of the Exclusion Zone that they don’t want us knowing about. Or worse.”

“Worse?” Rachel said in a rather shocked tone. “What can be worse than the government hiding something about the Chernobyl disaster?”

“I’m not sure either of us want to know.” She said before walking off but she turned to look over her shoulder. “I just hope that if you find out you live to tell the world.”

She then disappeared into the Captain’s cabin and Rachel took a moment to catch her breath. Her heart was beating quickly. She pulled the camera back up and aimed it at her again. “I’m glad I didn’t cut this off. What on earth is going on in Chernobyl and Pripyat?” Her voice was soft and it held a certain amount of fear in it. “The stories that they’ve told us are scary…how bad are the things they haven’t told us?”


End file.
